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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Canon 6D and AstroPi3 setup, exposure abort problem

Autofocus always changed mode to CLIENT when it captures. If it was set to LOCAL before, it will fallback to it once capture is complete.

So with my 600D, I wasn't able to reproduce the problem when selecting "RAM" option. It just works in Capture & AutoFocus without any issues. At any rate, as a workaround, I added an option "SD Image", which has 2 options Save & Delete. It defaults to save. If you do not want your SD card to fill up, just select "Delete". This will make it use SD Card capture target, but deletes the file afterwards. Not sure if this will help with the problems above, so give it a try and let me know. Should be in PPA tomorrow.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Vincent Groenewold, Magnus Larsson
6 years 1 month ago #23131

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So what is the exact difference between client and local when I'm running the INDI server and EKOS on the same machine? And why would that make it work in my case, does that make sense maybe if something is not set up right?

Thanks for testing, I'll try that option for sure, but SD card saving didn't work properly for me unfortunately. So will look into that as well.
6 years 1 month ago #23134

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If you're running it on the SAME machine, don't use local!! Local is to be used when you are operating a remote INDI server AND you want to save the images on the remote INDI server. For example, if you running INDI server on a remote RPI3 and Ekos on your PC, and you want all the images to be saved on the RPI3, then you use "Local".
The following user(s) said Thank You: Vincent Groenewold
6 years 1 month ago #23135

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Hi!

I'm going to test your new SD-card option today and get back with reports on that. But is it then correct that cannot reproduces the focus module "already exposing, cannot abort" problem? Could you make any sense of the logfile I posted?

Any ideas of what I could test to be any wiser about it? While the SD-card/RAM issue is easy to test during daytome, the focus requires a star ... but good to know what to do next time the coulds part.

Magnus
6 years 1 month ago #23159

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Maybe use artificial star for day-time? I wasn't able to get any unjustified "aborts" in my testing today. Will try later with my observatory.
6 years 1 month ago #23171

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Hi!

The new feature, Delete from SD-card, seems to work nicely here. Pictures are taken and immediately deleted. And the problem with hanging on abort is solved in this way. with the camera set to save on SD-card and delete from SD-card, I can abort exposures and then almost immediately capture again. Nice!!

The focus problem however, is still here. The error message I get is not about "busy" but "GPhoto driver is already exposing. Can not abort".And when this happens, the camera just takes a quick snapshot - even though I have it set to 5 secs, it just snaps a picture, as it it was less then 1 sec, and then gives this error msg. And then stalls - nothing more happens until I intervene manually. Attached is a log file where this happens in the end. It is very intermittent, I could focus a number of times before it happened tonight - but then there it is.

Hope this is useful.

Magnus
6 years 1 month ago #23181
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I may have mixed some words up, but that's exactly what happens to my camera. Still exposing indeed and with this super fast shot being taken. For me it is very consistent though, always fails after the first shot. I didn't test the new version yet, but I suspect it still happens than.
Last edit: 6 years 1 month ago by Vincent Groenewold.
6 years 1 month ago #23185

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Looking at the logs:
[2018-02-10T19:16:46.694 CET INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Capturing image..."
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.141 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] read_libraw: raw_width: 3948 top_margin 18 left_margin 42 first_visible_pixel 71106 "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.141 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] read_libraw: rawdata.sizes.width: 3906 rawdata.sizes.height 2602 memsize 20326824 bayer_pattern RGGB "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.141 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] read_libraw: memsize (20326824) naxis (2) w (3906) h (2602) bpp (16) pattern (RGGB) "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.142 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Subframing... "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.142 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Uploading file. Ext: fits, Size: 77760, sendImage? Yes, saveImage? No "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.166 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.fits] - Loading FITS file  "/tmp/fitsZK1365"
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.168 CET INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Image received."
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.173 CET DEBG ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - Focus newFITS # 1 : Current HFR  2.52203
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.174 CET DEBG ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - Frame is subframed. X: 2 Y: 44 W: 192 H: 192 binX: 1 binY: 1
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.174 CET INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Capturing image..."
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.175 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Upload complete "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.175 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Aborting exposure... "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.175 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Closing shutter "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.178 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Using widget:bulb "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.178 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting toggle widget bulb: 0 "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.178 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting new configuration OK. "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.178 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Exposure aborted. "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.179 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Requested CCD Frame is (  0,  0) (3906 x 2602) "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.179 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Starting exposure (exptime: 3 secs, mirror lock: 0) "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.179 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG]   Mutex locked "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.179 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting radio/menu widget iso: 4 (800) "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.179 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting new configuration OK. "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.179 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting radio/menu widget imageformat: 7 (RAW) "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.185 CET WARN ][        org.kde.knotifications] - Audio notification requested, but sound file from notifyrc file was not found, aborting audio notification
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.185 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting new configuration OK. "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.185 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Using internal bulb widget:bulb "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.185 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting toggle widget bulb: 1 "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.442 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting new configuration OK. "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.442 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Exposure started "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.444 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D :  "[INFO] Starting 3 sec exposure "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.444 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Time left: 3000 "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.444 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Requested CCD Frame is (  2, 44) (192 x 192) "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.444 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Aborting exposure... "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.444 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Closing shutter "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.444 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Using widget:bulb "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.444 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting toggle widget bulb: 0 "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.444 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Setting new configuration OK. "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.444 CET DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D : "[DEBUG] Exposure aborted. "
[2018-02-10T19:16:50.446 CET INFO ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Canon DSLR EOS 1000D :  "[ERROR] GPhoto driver is already exposing. Can not abort. "

"Aborting Expsoure" is never supposed to be called above... so something is causing this and I don't know what it is. Can you post a screenshot of your Focus Module? Also, something you can try to change the "Settle" value to 2 seconds to or something and see if that somewhat helps. But I'd like to get to the cause of the "Abort" command since I couldn't reproduce it here with 600D nor with my observatory setup.
6 years 1 month ago #23212

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Hi!

Here's a screenshot from the focus module, connected to the 1000D and focusing.

Magnus

6 years 1 month ago #23217
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I have EXACTLY the same problem with the focus module.

I read the whole topic of you guys here, and found out that this "fast shot" is happening to me too.
I can not say when exactly the problem happens, but i also have the prob with the message gphoto....abort...

i have a screenshot of my focuser settings here too.
I always use save to sd card, because i like it this way.
My settings for saving the file is client, but i do have to say, that i did not understand completely what i am doing there...

My whole system runs on ONE Laptop with lubuntu on it, and all devices are connected directly to this laptop. I work with it from the warm room over Teamvierwer.
This is for testing only atm. I planed to use a Raspi in the near future.
Skywatcher EQ6-R | Lacerta 10" Carbon-Newton | Lacerta MFoc Motorfocus | Moravian G2 8300 Color | Canon EOS 5DMarkIIIa | Lodestar X2 guiding cam | KSTARS 3.4.3. on my outdoor-Laptop with KDE-Neon/Plasma | KSTARS 3.4.3. on Remote-IMac with Catalina | KSTARS 3.4.3 on Remote-Macbook Air with Catalina
6 years 1 month ago #23316
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I am using a Nikon D3300 and somewhere in the instructions it says that saving to RAM will lead to hangups, so I always selected save to SD card. At the very worst, at the end of the night's session you just delete the images you don't want. As Vincent, I am running Ekos directly on the RPi3 and control it only through a VNC remote desktop (KRDC or RealVNC, depending which one you like better). I like saving the images to the SD card of the camera, it always provides me with a backup in case the saving to the Pictures folder on the Pi has a problem. Autofocus works great with the D3300, never had any issues with it.

Another thing I found is that the RPi3 is pretty much at the limit of its RAM when running Ekos on it. That occasionally led to hangups. To get over those, I added a cheap external hard drive (120GB, $20 at Amazon) and put a Swap file on it. With swappiness at the default of 60, I now don't run out of memory anymore and the system overall is more responsive. Putting the swap file directly on the SD card did not work well, I/O is too slow and over time the SD card will degrade from the frequent R/W cycles.

If you want to get around these problems entirely, put Ubuntu Mate, Indi and Ekos on a Zotac pi332 which has 4GB of RAM and a 32 GB eMMC. True, more expensive at $189, but much faster, too. In that case, just set the path to save your images on the external hard drive, or you can put an SD card also into the Zotac and save directly to that.
6 years 1 month ago #23322

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Hi!

Good to hear that more are experiencing the same issue (well, good in one way, not another....). As I understand it:
1. The RAM vs SD-card issue is unrelated to the focus module problem with the "fast shot" and the error msg "Gphoto is already exposing. Can not abort" and stalling there - nothing more happens. These seems to be two entirely different issues. Right?
2. The "save to client" vs "save to local" is only relevant when you run Indi on one machine and Ekos on another. If you use a laptop running both, then connecting to it via VNC, it should be irrelevant. If you use a R-Pi running Indi-server, but not Ekos, and Ekos on a different computer - then this is relevant. Focus module ALWAYS use "client" because Ekos needs the images to be able to focus. Right?

So, Cakemaker, I can see that you have an exposure AFTER your "Gphoto is already exposing. Can not abort". Does that mean the process was not stalled? Or did you press Autofocus or Capture again? And what kind of camera do you have?

Magnus
6 years 1 month ago #23325

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